Proof of Relationship

[nats6624 0]

Other than the Affidavits it asks for mortgages,joint tenancy,joint bank account etc. We live with my brother in-law who owns the house and we pay half of the cost every month so no lease or name on mortgage. We can't get a joint bank account because his bank is in Washington and we now live in Utah and they will only do it on walk-in. The only thing we have together is the cable/phone/internet bill and insurance is that going to be enough? I don't have any letters or any record of flights and so on because he just lived a few hours away and just drove to Canada to see me. So i don't really have any proof of anything. I have pictures from 6 years ago when we got together but they have no dates or anything on them.

[pinayangelus 0]

two of the most important pieces of evidence you can have for a joint relationship is a bank account and joint tax return forms.

maybe you cculd try to open a bank account at another bank closer to your new place? i know for sure wells fargo opens bank accounts, as long as one of you has a SSN. my husband and I didnt even open a bank account until a month before we sent out our AOS, i dont think it matters HOW LONG you've had an account together BUT more that you guys DO have a joint account together.

as for tax returns, i was an F-1 visa student and i never has a SSN. so my husband couldnt claim me on his taxes for the past few years. since i was applying for AOS, I also applied for my EAD. as soon as I recieved EAD, i got a SSN. we went back to my husbands tax guy to have his taxes ammended so that it was also joint. mind you this was 1 week before our interview. we brought extra copies of the ammended tax forms and the IO was very pleased that we had been able to show him 'joint' tax returns.

other things that you may have joint, what we sent in was our vet records for our dogs, library cards, costco cards, we also got my husbands parents to wriite an affidavit stating that we were living with them, therefore we dont have very many bills together, we also sent in the phone/internet and cell phone bill and that was it for us.

hopefully you can find other things that you can bring. good luck!

Other than the Affidavits it asks for mortgages,joint tenancy,joint bank account etc. We live with my brother in-law who owns the house and we pay half of the cost every month so no lease or name on mortgage. We can't get a joint bank account because his bank is in Washington and we now live in Utah and they will only do it on walk-in. The only thing we have together is the cable/phone/internet bill and insurance is that going to be enough? I don't have any letters or any record of flights and so on because he just lived a few hours away and just drove to Canada to see me. So i don't really have any proof of anything. I have pictures from 6 years ago when we got together but they have no dates or anything on them.

[loyaboya 0]

I was going to say the same thing as pinayangelus - can you guys open a new joint bank account? My husband and I did this after we got married. There was barely any money in it but we still used it as documentation. Also, once we opened it, the bank sent us mail with both our names on the account. We were able to take that to the interview.

We also used our "family plan" cell phone bill. The account itself was only in my name but the bill clearly listed both phone numbers.

Also, what address is on your drivers licenses? Even though we didn't have a joint lease/mortgage, we used our drivers licenses to show proof of our same address. We also have a credit card together.

You mentioned the insurance and cable bills- I think those are good too. Send in whatever you have. Even vet bills or papers for your pets- my interviewer specifically mentioned that we could have used those.

Get whatever you can (think outside the box) and then don't stress about the rest. Everyone's situation is unique. Good luck!

oh- one more thing. I'm not sure if it helped but I also included info on my name change. If I hadn't had a bonafide relationship then I certainly would not have gone through all that trouble , so to me that was evidence of our marriage. So I included copies of my old and new drivers licenses and social security card. Like I said, I'm not sure how helpful it was but I figured it couldn't hurt.

[nats6624 0]

I was going to say the same thing as pinayangelus - can you guys open a new joint bank account? My husband and I did this after we got married. There was barely any money in it but we still used it as documentation. Also, once we opened it, the bank sent us mail with both our names on the account. We were able to take that to the interview.

We also used our "family plan" cell phone bill. The account itself was only in my name but the bill clearly listed both phone numbers.

Also, what address is on your drivers licenses? Even though we didn't have a joint lease/mortgage, we used our drivers licenses to show proof of our same address. We also have a credit card together.

You mentioned the insurance and cable bills- I think those are good too. Send in whatever you have. Even vet bills or papers for your pets- my interviewer specifically mentioned that we could have used those.

Get whatever you can (think outside the box) and then don't stress about the rest. Everyone's situation is unique. Good luck!

oh- one more thing. I'm not sure if it helped but I also included info on my name change. If I hadn't had a bonafide relationship then I certainly would not have gone through all that trouble , so to me that was evidence of our marriage. So I included copies of my old and new drivers licenses and social security card. Like I said, I'm not sure how helpful it was but I figured it couldn't hurt.

So am i suppose to send these in with my AOS forms or i am suppose to save this all for my interview? I don't have a drivers license never have i just have a canadian ID. In our state i am not allowed to get a drivers license or ID until i have an alien registration number which i don't have yet. My name is on the vet bills not both .

two of the most important pieces of evidence you can have for a joint relationship is a bank account and joint tax return forms.

maybe you cculd try to open a bank account at another bank closer to your new place? i know for sure wells fargo opens bank accounts, as long as one of you has a SSN. my husband and I didnt even open a bank account until a month before we sent out our AOS, i dont think it matters HOW LONG you've had an account together BUT more that you guys DO have a joint account together.

as for tax returns, i was an F-1 visa student and i never has a SSN. so my husband couldnt claim me on his taxes for the past few years. since i was applying for AOS, I also applied for my EAD. as soon as I recieved EAD, i got a SSN. we went back to my husbands tax guy to have his taxes ammended so that it was also joint. mind you this was 1 week before our interview. we brought extra copies of the ammended tax forms and the IO was very pleased that we had been able to show him 'joint' tax returns.

other things that you may have joint, what we sent in was our vet records for our dogs, library cards, costco cards, we also got my husbands parents to wriite an affidavit stating that we were living with them, therefore we dont have very many bills together, we also sent in the phone/internet and cell phone bill and that was it for us.

hopefully you can find other things that you can bring. good luck!

So should i wait to do the tax return thing until the interview date comes and i have an ead card with ss number to do the amended tax return or should i do it now?

Other than the Affidavits it asks for mortgages,joint tenancy,joint bank account etc. We live with my brother in-law who owns the house and we pay half of the cost every month so no lease or name on mortgage. We can't get a joint bank account because his bank is in Washington and we now live in Utah and they will only do it on walk-in. The only thing we have together is the cable/phone/internet bill and insurance is that going to be enough? I don't have any letters or any record of flights and so on because he just lived a few hours away and just drove to Canada to see me. So i don't really have any proof of anything. I have pictures from 6 years ago when we got together but they have no dates or anything on them.

[marie09 5]

Hey Nats,

I don't know much about the interview yet - but i think the more evidence the better.

For the AOS package we didn't have much, having just got married... Also we had no lease/utilities as my husband co-owns the house with his business and they pay the utilities... Which is awesome for us but not so awesome when it comes to satisfying the evidence stuff!

We relied heavily on affidavits from friends and family. You should be able to get those easily. There's examples on the VJ forms section. My husband added me to two credit cards. We included copies of the cards. Then we went to the bank and opened a joint account. We didn't have statements in time so we had the bank write a letter saying we had opened a joint account. Then I put in photos of us before marriage, taken at different places, times... They won't dated but I wrote on the back the month and year and the location.

Something we just did but didn't include is a joint netflix dvd rental account... Really inexpensive monthly rates, good to have and they let you list both names with no social security/residency requirement... You could probably set that up right away.

Good Luck when do you hope to file? If you file before the end of the month come join our November filers waiting thread!

[loyaboya 0]

I was going to say the same thing as pinayangelus - can you guys open a new joint bank account? My husband and I did this after we got married. There was barely any money in it but we still used it as documentation. Also, once we opened it, the bank sent us mail with both our names on the account. We were able to take that to the interview.

We also used our "family plan" cell phone bill. The account itself was only in my name but the bill clearly listed both phone numbers.

Also, what address is on your drivers licenses? Even though we didn't have a joint lease/mortgage, we used our drivers licenses to show proof of our same address. We also have a credit card together.

You mentioned the insurance and cable bills- I think those are good too. Send in whatever you have. Even vet bills or papers for your pets- my interviewer specifically mentioned that we could have used those.

Get whatever you can (think outside the box) and then don't stress about the rest. Everyone's situation is unique. Good luck!

oh- one more thing. I'm not sure if it helped but I also included info on my name change. If I hadn't had a bonafide relationship then I certainly would not have gone through all that trouble , so to me that was evidence of our marriage. So I included copies of my old and new drivers licenses and social security card. Like I said, I'm not sure how helpful it was but I figured it couldn't hurt.

So am i suppose to send these in with my AOS forms or i am suppose to save this all for my interview? I don't have a drivers license never have i just have a canadian ID. In our state i am not allowed to get a drivers license or ID until i have an alien registration number which i don't have yet. My name is on the vet bills not both .

Definitely send whatever you have with your package. Then if you are able to get more stuff before your interview, bring that with you because they will look at it too.

Do either you or your husband have a credit card? Marie 09 just said this but if your husband has one (or vice versa) then he can add you as an "authorized user". The company will then send one in your name (and you don't have to give a social or get a credit check). It won't help your credit (because it's still his account, not yours) but it does demonstrate a shared resource. We did this and sent a photocopy of the cards (with all the numbers except the last 4 blacked-out! ) to show that we shared the card.

[MJhawk 0]

How can you get a drivers licence if your not a permanent resident??

[nats6624 0]

I was going to say the same thing as pinayangelus - can you guys open a new joint bank account? My husband and I did this after we got married. There was barely any money in it but we still used it as documentation. Also, once we opened it, the bank sent us mail with both our names on the account. We were able to take that to the interview.

We also used our "family plan" cell phone bill. The account itself was only in my name but the bill clearly listed both phone numbers.

Also, what address is on your drivers licenses? Even though we didn't have a joint lease/mortgage, we used our drivers licenses to show proof of our same address. We also have a credit card together.

You mentioned the insurance and cable bills- I think those are good too. Send in whatever you have. Even vet bills or papers for your pets- my interviewer specifically mentioned that we could have used those.

Get whatever you can (think outside the box) and then don't stress about the rest. Everyone's situation is unique. Good luck!

oh- one more thing. I'm not sure if it helped but I also included info on my name change. If I hadn't had a bonafide relationship then I certainly would not have gone through all that trouble , so to me that was evidence of our marriage. So I included copies of my old and new drivers licenses and social security card. Like I said, I'm not sure how helpful it was but I figured it couldn't hurt.

So am i suppose to send these in with my AOS forms or i am suppose to save this all for my interview? I don't have a drivers license never have i just have a canadian ID. In our state i am not allowed to get a drivers license or ID until i have an alien registration number which i don't have yet. My name is on the vet bills not both .

Definitely send whatever you have with your package. Then if you are able to get more stuff before your interview, bring that with you because they will look at it too.

Do either you or your husband have a credit card? Marie 09 just said this but if your husband has one (or vice versa) then he can add you as an "authorized user". The company will then send one in your name (and you don't have to give a social or get a credit check). It won't help your credit (because it's still his account, not yours) but it does demonstrate a shared resource. We did this and sent a photocopy of the cards (with all the numbers except the last 4 blacked-out! ) to show that we shared the card.

Well i just called my husbands bank in Washington they just told me they could send me a paper that i have to sign since i can't walk in, then i send it back and they send me a card (when my husband called he didn't explain we lived in another state and that is why they said we would have to come in person, never leave anything for your husband to do ! lol) so i can get that done. so i have that and the bills i can send.. As for the letters there all going to be from family so i hope that is ok.

[marie09 5]

How can you get a drivers licence if your not a permanent resident??

MJHawk it depends on the state... States usually let you get a driver license or ID card if you have a valid visa... Usually can't be in the last month or two of it though. But it varies... Then some states will only issue it for the length of the visa others will issue it for standard length. Ask at your DMV, to see if you're eligible. The worst they can do is say no.

Nats - that's great you got your account set! I'm sure the affidavits from family are fine... The more the better... It's definitely got to help your case as I don't think most families would write an affidavit if it wasn't a real marriage. We had my husband's parents, his brother & gf, my previous land lords (as they are like family to me and they knew us a couple from the beginning.) and one of my husband's friends...

Good luck!

[loyaboya 0]

How can you get a drivers licence if your not a permanent resident??

MJHawk it depends on the state... States usually let you get a driver license or ID card if you have a valid visa... Usually can't be in the last month or two of it though. But it varies... Then some states will only issue it for the length of the visa others will issue it for standard length. Ask at your DMV, to see if you're eligible. The worst they can do is say no.

Yup, we live in North Carolina. I'm not sure if he needed to show his visa but he had a social security card and probably took that (F1 student). I can ask him for the exact details.